Lose 1lb a week on the 2-day diet plan

Devised as part of a medical plan to lower the risk of breast cancer, this new approach to eating may be a lot easier to stick to than conventional diets – and it could give you real health benefits, too.

All diets work – initially. The problem is sticking to them! Too often the weight goes back on as fast as it came off. There are physiological reasons why, after a period of dieting, the body becomes more resistant to losing weight. And it was by pondering how to get around this problem that Dr Michelle Harvie devised this revolutionary new approach to weight loss. She came up with the idea as a tool in the fight against breast cancer. In a trial involving 100 women, those who tried the 2 Day Diet lost as much weight and achieved the same health benefits as those who followed a traditional, full-time, restricted 1,500-calories-a-day diet. 'We've shown that losing weight and restricting calorie intake both reduce the risk of breast cancer, but many women find a seven-days-a-week diet difficult. We wanted to find a way to make it easier for them to lose weight and help protect themselves,' says Dr Harvie.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

The beauty of the two-day approach is its simplicity. There are no special foods to prepare, no weighing or measuring, and no complicated calorie counting. For two consecutive days of the week – your 'milk days'– you consume the equivalent of two pints of semi-skimmed milk, four portions of vegetables and one portion of fruit, at least two pints of other low-cal drinks and a multi-vitamin and mineral tablet. The diet is designed by dieticians, nutritionally balanced, and many women have found it surprisingly easy to stick to. On the two milk days you only consume 650 calories, but on other days eat sensibly – keeping to around a 1,800-calorie Mediterranean-style diet for the rest of the week. Because this is only slightly less than the normal recommendation for the average woman of 2,000 calories a day, you should hardly notice any difference.

Most Popular

You might think after two days of eating very little that you would approach day three feeling absolutely ravenous. 'In fact, most people didn't overeat on day three – or for the rest of the week. Psychologically, if you've worked hard for two days you won't want to spoil it by overindulging,' explains Dr Harvie.

You can expect to lose at least 1lb a week and possibly up to 2lb using the two-day approach. The length of the diet really depends on how much you have to lose. Professor David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, says he welcomes anything new that works: 'The link between obesity and increased breast cancer risk is compelling, and we know sticking to a diet every day can be hard for many people. So any diet that is nutritionally balanced, which this is, and makes it easier for women to lose weight is welcome.'

How it works

The 2 Day Diet is based on milk, fruit and vegetables – the milk provides protein, calcium and other essential nutrients, and helps fill you up, while vegetables and fruit provide fibre, nutrients and bulk. On the 'milk days' you can only consume the following:

2 pints of semi-skimmed milk or the equivalent in yogurt or cottage cheese

100g cottage cheese Ingredients are limited, but there are plenty of ways to add interest and flavour: make creamy vegetable soups; add spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg to hot milk; whip up a fruit smoothie or blend cold milk with ice cubes and strawberry flavouring or vanilla essence.

The science behind it

So why should this eating plan work for you when others have failed? It's not just about the calories. The psychology of weight loss is just as important – if not more so – and plays a key role in whether a diet works for you. And that's where this approach may be a winner. 'After eating so little for two days, you would expect to want to overeat – but this doesn't appear to happen,' says chartered psychologist Linda Blair. 'The probable reason is that, by day three, you know the worst is over.'

Blair thinks the diet may also help change your eating habits: 'It teaches you to eat differently. On the low-cal days, the bulk of the food matches the number of calories it contains. You aren't eating loads of high-cal things, which tend to be small and not to fill you up, and give you a false idea of how fattening food is. Plus, on the other day you are focusing on a healthy Mediterranean diet. Two days of calorie restriction may also make you eat more slowly as you want to make the food last. So, over time, you teach yourself self-control and a different way of eating that helps you to eat less.'

Newsletter Signup

Don't miss out on Prima direct to your inbox

Please tick here if you would prefer not to receive the latest special offers, promotions and product information from Hearst Magazines UK.
Tick here if you would like to receive special offers and really useful information from our approved partner companies. You won't get bombarded and you'll be able to unsubscribe at any time.